The Order
by GandalfOfTheTriforce
Summary: AU When Korra is killed in a wreck, she learns that her soul's been bound to an organization that strives to keep balance to the World of the Living and the Spirit World. What she doesn't know is that she's been selected to become the Avatar, Master of all Four Elements; leader of The Order. She wants out, but drastic changes may have her changing her mind.


**Disclaimers and Notices:** I do not own Avatar: Last Airbender or Legend of Korra. I'm just stealing them for my own imagination.

**Author's Notes: **This is definitely a huge fucking AU kind of fic. And I know it's majorly confusing in the beginning, but I don't want everything to be told in the first chapter, just Korra being introduced to The Order. And if you want me to continue it, then you must review! I need healthy criticism.

**Summary: **AU When Korra is killed in a wreck, she learns that her soul's been bound to an organization that strives to keep balance to the World of the Living and the Spirit World. What she doesn't know is that she's been selected to become the Avatar, Master of all Four Elements; the leader of The Order. She wants out, but will her heart allow her to leave?

* * *

**Chapter One: **

**The Angel and the Darkness**

* * *

_"Korra, you must wake up. See me. Come to me!" _

Like swimming up through an ocean of mud, consciousness filtered in and out of the inky blackness of Korra Tenshi's subconscious as she fought to follow the command of the voice floating into her. She struggled to recall how she fell into the darkness, why it screamed for her to stay within its warm cocoon of nothingness, but her mind was a chaotic mess of disjointed fragments of memories surrounded by gaps of blank thoughts. The only solid piece of her mind she could hold on to was the thought of her willpower knowing there was a reason consciousness has called to her; how it beckoned her to listen to the voice and open her eyes to face the world, that she was strong enough to handle the obstacles in her way.

She grasped onto her awareness like a lifeline, allowing it to pull her out of the darkness with an ease. The first sensation to register through her was the breath robbing agony coursing into her veins like liquid fire, so intense it threatened to send her back into her subconscious. She wanted to avoid the agony, but there was something, or someone, she was meant to be searching for.

She fought through the pain as her eyelids fluttered open to reveal blurred and distorted images that moved in out of her vision. The darkness was still creeping into the edges of her sight, continuing to sing to her soul to rest. She ignored its siren call for the moment, her ears picking up the sound of voices screaming like injured animals, calling out for their loved ones in urgency.

Her soul begging to see the stranger calling out for her, Korra blinked past the blurriness. Her blue eyes quickly slid shut when the sun's light flashed into her face from the sky above her, too bright for her pupils. She reopened them, slowly adjusting to the light as she took note of her position. She was on her back, the green grass beneath her tickled her exposed arms as the wind gently blew across her skin, sending the smell of burnt rubber and smoke into her nostrils, leaving a bad taste on the back of her tongue. Her mind was still fuzzy, but she could recall getting on her motorcycle for school this morning, which meant she must've been in a wreck. Did she have a concussion?

The sun was beginning to bother her eyes, and when Korra went to lift her left arm and block the light, white hot pain shot straight down from her shoulder to the tips of her fingertips, forcing a scream to tear past her lips. "Fuck," she rasped once the pain ebbed away enough for her mind to gain equilibrium. Her eyes quickly looked down at her arm, finding it to be a disordered set of black, purple and blue, which made her heart sink into her stomach. That was a bad sign.

_"That's it, Korra, now find me. Come to me."_

The voice echoed through Korra's mind, momentarily washing away the aches and pains her body was experiencing. Instincts told her she needed to start moving towards the sound, that she needed to get to the stranger before she's swallowed up whole by the blackness once more. And rolling onto her right side, Korra bit the inside of her cheek to keep the scream from slipping past her lips. Her left arm slammed into the ground harder than she intended, sending sparks of pain through her system. She pushed it down and lifted her upper body off the ground with her right arm, hoping the vantage point would allow her to find the figure of the person calling for her.

Her cerulean eyes scanned over her surroundings for the figure, for a sign of someone looking over at her, but all Korra found was the destruction from the wreck she now could be positive she'd been in. Her stomach twisted in dread at the sight laid out in front of her, the carnage that had befallen the innocent victims from whoever's careless antics. And the only way the teenager could describe the scene in front of her was an example from the game Dominoes, except this was real life. Cars and people instead of wooden blocks. They toppled over each other like a bad game of a kid flicking the last wooden block that would doom the rest, sending them to fall over each other with their momentum.

Korra couldn't help a part of her from feeling like she had been the cause of this, though pieces of her memories suggest she wasn't the direct cause of the wreck, for Korra knew this highway by heart. She'd been taking it since she started school at Republic High her Freshman year, and now it looked more like a stranger to the teenager. She knew it so well that, from time to time, she won't pay attention to her surroundings. Has she been doing that? Did she not see what she was doing?

Her right arm started to shake from her weight, and Korra lowered herself back onto the grass beneath her. She slid her arm close to her and rested her chin on it. Her gaze shooting to the right where the highway's right intersection was, Korra found her white bike that she cherishedly named Naga after her father presented it to her on her fifteenth birthday in the middle of the two lanes. It was a mangled mess, looking as though it had been hit twice by two different cars, judging by the red and green paint scratched into what remained of the white designer pieces.

_"Focus, Korra, you must see me to find me."_

The voice beckoned her once more. Knowing her left arm was completely shattered from the wreck, Korra looked over shoulder to assess the rest of her. When she tried to move her legs for signs of mobility, she was met with nothing. Korra was left to believe her spine had been shattered or tendons and ligaments had been pulled, but, whichever the case, her legs were as useless as her left arm was, leaving her right arm as the only functional piece of her, and she gulped audibly at the thought that flashed through her mind.

She had to push her body.

And it was going to hurt like a motherfucker.

Steeling her nerves for the agony that's to come, keeping azure eyes locked on the right side of the highway's intersection, where the teenager believed the voice to be coming from, Korra moved her right arm out as far as it'll go in front of her, intending to use it as the anchor to pull her body across the grass and over to the road. She took two deep breaths, and her imagination made her believe she heard someone sigh in annoyance. _If only..._

She slowly moved her body. Inch by tiny inch. Each muscle being forced to move protested in earnest at the teenager, coursing a fireworks display of pain and fatigue through every nerve fiber inside her. She couldn't breathe through it. She couldn't see if her body has caught up with her right arm, or if said arm's moving back out to push her once more across the distance. She couldn't stop the sense of helplessness from crashing into her chest, forcing her to be swallowed back down into the darkness of her subconscious.

* * *

_Bare feet dashed across the uneven earth beneath their unprotected soles, but Aang felt nothing but the fire burning through his lungs and the ache settling in his heart as he pushed his body to the breaking point. He could hear the voices of his friends and family from somewhere behind him, calling out for him to stop running, that there's nothing he could to save her now. Aang ignored every last one of them, even the frantic screaming of his eldest child. _

_The woman he'd been chasing had vanished from his sight hours ago, disappearing right before his eyes with a look of sorrow and insanity etched onto her features. Her blue eyes had spoken to him when she looked over her shoulder before she followed Ozai into his hellish kingdom of fire and madness, telling him that she didn't want to leave him, her friends and family, but had no choice but to. She wanted him to know it, and the knowledge of her fighting with the monster inside her had Aang unable to stop his legs from running after an imaginary figure. _

_He refused to give up on her._

_He couldn't let her go._

_The thought of her being manipulated by Ozai and his minions pushed the Avatar further into despair. He couldn't envision his life without her. He didn't want to live without her. She was the girl he laid eyes on and knew he would forever love. She was the woman who married him out of love and trust. She was the mother to his three kids. She isn't the monster that's lurking inside her, singing its song of bloodlust and torture. He knew that better than anyone, knew she was running from them out of fear of hurting her loved ones. _

_He just couldn't..._

_...live..._

_A pale hand shot out from the corner of his eye, latching onto his clothed shoulder. Fingers laced themselves into his robes and effortlessly spun him around him to lock gazes with the unseeing eyes of his best friend. He knew her well enough to know that she won't show the true extent of her pain in front of the world. _

_It was always in her eyes, the depths of them swimming in the emotions she'll never give voice to, even as her face remains blank to those who don't know how to see through the cracks of her armor. He saw the grief, the betrayal and the confusion. All of it mixing together to match the Avatar's own damaged soul. And it gave him a sense of clarity that he didn't possess several seconds ago._

_His foot shifted slightly at the heel and the earth beneath him pulsated, the vibrations showing him the edge of the cliff his eyes hadn't seen, the very one he'd been two steps away from jumping over. Maybe it would've killed him. Aang wasn't positive about the world around him anymore. He just wanted the pain and the loss to go away. _

_They were eating him alive from the inside. _

_As if sensing his inner turmoil, the hand removed itself from his shoulder, shifting up to the back of his neck to draw him closer into the warmth of his friend's body. He wasn't aware of the low, keening sound of pain that escaped him until he was moving on instinct. His hands shot out to wrap themselves around the blind earthbender's midsection, and his head buried itself into her neck, inhaling the earthly scent that was uniquely hers. _

_He didn't need sight or sound to know that his friends and family have caught up to them. They crowded around him and the metalbender he was probably leaving bruises on, but if she felt the pain through her metal armor, she made no move to withdraw from him. He was grateful for her strength, for he had none left to keep him standing on his own. He was ready to drown himself in the agony his heart could barely handle. _

_He wanted those blue eyes back. That thousand watt smile that lit up a room. Her gentle laugh. Her stability. Her warmth. _

_"Katara," he whispered brokenly, so low that only Toph Beifong could hear him._

* * *

Korra's blue eyes flew open. Her breathing came out in ragged gasps, her body frozen in complete terror, as if she had been the poor man who lost the love of his life. But she reminded herself that she was Korra Tenshi, daughter of two loving parents. It was all just a dream, and she needed to focus on the task at hand. Whatever that was.

Her right arm was resting on the grass in front of her. Tremors ran through the muscles as she pulled her body towards it. She hated how worthless she felt in this moment, for Korra wasn't some pansy you could push down and expect to stay down. She was a fighter, but right now she felt like a newborn colt just learning how to gain his footing on the ground beneath his hoofs.

Adrenaline shot through her bloodstream, giving her mind the strength it needed to realign itself to her memories that were once jumbled messes of confusion, showing her the true danger she was in if she didn't pick up the pace.

Her motorcycle.

The green car that swiveled out of its lane and slammed into her bike.

The red car that sped up and smacked her, forcing her fingers to slip from the grip she had on her bike, sending her into the air.

The searing, screaming pain that radiated through her.

Then nothing. Nothing at all.

Pain. Agony. The feeling had lasted mere seconds before Korra was swallowed into her subconscious, but she remembered it as if it were hours of unimaginable torture slamming through her. She had died. She was sure of it. She felt her life slipping from her fingers the second her hands released her bike, knowing in her soul she would no longer breathe in her mother's scent, or hear her father's booming laughter. And she had accepted it, for she knew her parents would know that she loved them with all of her heart.

But if there was a chance of surviving, Korra needed to ignore the pain. She played a scenario in her head to get her through the agony consuming her soul. It was of her mother sitting as close to the hospital bed as she could get, her azure eyes holding adoration and anger within their depths, as she holds her daughter's hand, and when Korra's eyes finally flutter open, she immediately begins to scold her daughter about not being careful on the motorcycle like she promised she would be when she was learning how to ride it.

Then her father appears in the picture, moving behind his wife and places a hand on her shoulder. Korra can see relief in his eyes when he gazes over to her. He comes to her defense, telling his wife that the two drivers in the red and green cars were at fault for the accident, that they almost killed a sixteen year old girl, and he smiles as he tells her that when she gets out of the hospital, they're going to immediately get started on fixing Naga, her bike.

She wanted to return the smile, but a part of her knew she didn't belong in the scenario she just imagined. Her injuries were too horrific, too much pain and blood for her to even be breathing, let alone moving. And when her eyes glanced back to the right side of the highway, she knows for sure that she's dead. Her eyes fill with tears at the realization, slipping down her bruised and bloody cheeks.

_"There you go, Korra, now come to me. Take my hand, and I will protect you from harm."_

Standing in the middle of the two lanes on the intersection was the stranger calling out for Korra, and the teen nearly froze in shock at the sight in front of her. A part of her kept her from freezing her sluggish crawl across the grass, knowing if she stopped now she would refuse to continue moving when the voice calls for her again. She kept her eyes firmly locked on the stranger, familiarizing herself with the stranger's features, wanting an image of them inside her head to distract her from the distance between them.

The stranger was a woman. Her feet were bare, left to face the hot concrete on their own, but Korra saw no sign of distress on the woman's face, only a calmly held in impatience, and Korra wondered if the woman was pissed off at her for taking forever to see her. She pushed that thought away, though, as she ran her gaze over the woman's face again, finally catching eyes that might've been a brilliant shade of green if they weren't milky white. And if she was truly blind, Korra wouldn't have believed it, for this woman held her gaze, as if she was looking into the teen's very essence.

Her _soul._

Korra tore her azure eyes away from the woman's, shifting back to learning more about the stranger with the voice that sounded like rich, warm honey. Her skin was like pale marble, beautiful but deadly, and her hair was a perfect contrast to her parlor, its midnight locks held in a bun by a gray headband on her head. And her metal suit gave Korra the impression that this woman was an angel, sent to protect her from the fiery hands of Hell. And the idea was further established by the pale hand stretched out in front of her, beckoning for Korra to take it.

Agni, did she want to take that hand, feeling like it'll take the pain away from her.

It took the teenager six more times of pulling herself across the distance to reach the highway, and when her fingertips landed on the edge of the hot concrete, Korra gave her body a second to rest. Now that she was closer, just a few merely steps away from her target, Korra could see the emotions swimming in the depths of the woman's pale eyes. From realization to pain to love, the emotions shifted so quickly the teenager thought she was imagining it all, wanting to believe she could see into this woman's soul like she had done to Korra's.

_It was always in her eyes. _The thought came unbidden to the teenager, as if somehow she knew this person.

Korra silently begged for the woman to take the steps for her, but the stranger kept her stance in the middle of the intersection, her hand still positioned for the teen to take. It felt like Korra was the one who has to move the final distance, that has to be the one to place her hand in the pale one before her. But Korra knew this was the end, her body was giving up the will to live, to strive.

Korra couldn't push herself any further.

And maybe it was the thought of handing permission over for her body to die that gave her the strength to keep her eyes open long enough to watch as the woman shed the look of impatience and replace it with the one of terror. Korra could see it in her eyes that the woman wanted to move closer, but something was keeping her rooted to the ground, as if she would be breaking the golden rule if she dared to move any closer to the teen.

Korra knew how she felt. She wanted to push herself those final two steps, wanted to lift her arm up and grasp onto the reaching hand, but her body was beginning to relax in the grass, ignoring the pleas of Korra's soul, and her eyes were fluttering close, slowly slipping into the silence of her mind.

_"KORRA! You must stay awake for me! Please, I need you to keep your eyes open!"_

* * *

Bolin shifted nervously from his place on the other side of the highway, where the traffic was beginning to back up because of the wreck on the other side. The wreck he helped cause. This wasn't the first time he's played the Grim Reaper to a poor soul because the Avatar, Master of all Four Elements and leader of The Order, has deemed them to have run out of time, but this one felt wrong, for he's never seen that look on the Archangel's, a Master Bender and co-leader of The Order who protects souls after separarion from their physical form, face before.

The General, is how she is formally known to the trainees, looked ready to interfere with Korra Tenshi's separation, which is a sight the young earthbender has never witnessed before. The General has always been the one who could keep her expression stone still if a soul falls prey to oblivion and Lord Ozai's, the very man who wishes to destroy the balance of the two worlds, clutches.

But today was not that day, and Bolin wished he knew why.

"It doesn't look like she's going to make it, Mako." Bolin whispered, watching as The General practically ran to the diminish the distance between herself and Korra Tenshi's form; her hand reaching down to brush the teen's bangs out of her face. "You think we should help?" His green eyes looked over to his brother, who was standing a few steps away from him with his hands folded over his chest.

Mako shook his head. He was fully aware that Bolin hated this part of the job requirement, for they had been on the side Korra was facing now, had been tempted by oblivion's sweet release. But Mako knew if he wanted to become an Archangel one day, then he needed to harden his heart to the sight before him. "You know there's nothing we can do," he finally answered. "The General will handle it."

Leaning most of his weight on his knees, Bolin crouched onto the ground. In the Spirit World his mind and body is connected to the earth drumming beneath his feet, but in the World of the Living the earth wouldn't move for him, the silence a reminder of the sacrifices The Order made to protect the two worlds over ten thousand years ago.

"Then why does she look like she can't handle it?" The young earthbender asked, hesitation in his voice. "Why does she look as though..." he stopped, unable to find the words he needed.

Uncrossing his arms, Mako looked down and over to his brother's defeated features, seeing the hopelessness in his eyes. That's the kind of person Bolin was, though. His brother couldn't bear the thought of someone meeting their own demise, losing the will to survive. It's a reason why his little brother refuses to become an Archangel, who faces these situations everyday, and absolutely hates that Mako is striving to be one.

Sighing, Mako ran a hand through his hair and tried to reassure his brother. "I heard Tenzin talking to Pema before the mission briefing this morning," he nodded towards Korra's still form. "They were talking about her, and Tenzin believes Avatar Aang has chosen her to become his successor."

Bolin's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. "Really? The Avatar hasn't stepped down in ten thousand years, what makes her so special?" He shifted his gaze back to the scene before him, wondering if Korra was just a failure or someone that'll surprise them all.

"Don't know, but it doesn't seem like she's special."

Bolin silently agreed with his brother. Most of the targets he's been handed have managed to spot The General the second they open their eyes, but Korra took the longest, as if she was unable to connect to her spiritual form and release her physical body. And if Korra is destined to be the Avatar, then she would have to hold a large amount of spiritual energy in her soul to be able to maintain control over the elements burning within her.

It didn't appear as though she does.

"If she really is the Avatar, well, she's already failing at her job." Mako voiced Bolin's thoughts. He turned on his heels and started heading back to the lake that'll transport him to the training grounds of the Academy in the Spirit World.

Bolin stayed behind. He tended to do that, even when it seems like a Soulless, a person disconnected to their humanity, doesn't have the strength to reach for The General's hand. It reminds the earthbender about the day he died, how he almost allowed himself to close his eyes and insist that The General bother some other hurting teenage boy.

It had been the reminder of his brother's death that pulled him from oblivion, the memories had flooded through him like a tidal wave. That's what The Order does. They erase your entire existence from the World of the Living for one simple reason, so you can come back here to carry out your missions without having to worry about your old life interfering with it.

It was brilliant and heartbreaking at the same time.

Bolin died six months ago, but the day was starting to slip away from his grasp. He could clearly remember the boiling hatred that bubbled within his chest when he awoke from the twenty-four snooze, though. His body had been healed, but he still felt like he was dying all over again, and none of the strangers around him seemed to have cared about his wellbeing, too consumed in their duties.

He felt utterly alone until his brother walked into the small hospital room with a small smile on his face. Bolin swore he was going to pop from the joy that filled him at seeing the familiar features he had once forgotten, and he wished he could see his older brother more often than he does, for Bolin is an earthbender and trains daily on the other side of the Academy, while his brother has the other side, learning the ways of the sword because he hasn't shown signs of possessing the ability for an element.

But Bolin knows that some Swordsman later show signs of being firebenders, and if Mako is to ever show the signs, then his memories will be erased from his mind and soul and will be shipped out to Lord Ozai's Kingdom, for that was how The Order worked. Avatar Aang refuses to allow firebenders within his armies, within his Temples, ever since his brother, Ozai, had betrayed the Prince of the Sky, which is Aang, and tried to be ruler of the Sky and Earth over ten thousand years ago.

A history lesson Korra will have to memorize if she pulls through.

* * *

Toph Beifong knew Korra Tenshi was surrendering to the siren's call of euphoria when the rhythm of her heartbeat began to slowly slip out of its steady beat, and she was moving without a conscious thought, irrationally feeling as though it's Aang she's losing to Ozai, like she lost Katara to him all those years ago, though a part of her knows that Aang is safely tucked away in the Spirit World. It didn't fucking help that this girl had his rhythm in her heart, that her soul was singing the same tune his once did before he lost the love of his life.

At one time she was a rule breaker without a care, but she has seen what it does when you tarnish the very laws you've created because your heart is too soft to let a Soulless slip away from your grasp when they're too weak to handle the pain their bodies and souls are in. And Katara had been a prime example of it, for she was always calling souls back to her, unable to let them go. It caused the insanity they would've experienced to lace itself within her damaged soul, driving her to become the monster she never wanted to be, never intended to be.

A bloodbender.

A Master bloodbender in Lord Ozai's army of minions.

Toph wasn't going to allow the young girl at her feet become one of Ozai's pets, another bloodbender to add to his new collection, for Toph could feel it in Korra's soul that the teen would've been a waterbender even if she wasn't destined to be the Avatar. The girl was too young to face that kind of damage, and Toph was willing to face the consequences of her actions.

"Korra," she whispered, lowering herself onto the concrete. Her hand moved on its own accord to brush away Korra's sweat soaked bangs away from her face. "I know you're stronger than this, and I'm breaking a shit load of rules by doing this, but I need you to _look _at _me_." Her fingers trailed down the length of the girl's cheek, trying to convey by touch if by sound wasn't working to draw Korra back to her.

A smirk curled Korra's lips, but her blue eyes remained closed. The scent of honey suckles and green grass filled her lungs, drawing her away from the smell of ash and smoke that permitted through the blackness of her dreams. She tried to open her mouth and call for the woman she'd seen before she closed her eyes, but her lips refused to budge, as if they've sewn themselves shut to prevent her voice from being heard by the stranger. She wanted to lash out, make some kind of noise to alert the woman that she could hear her, but her body wouldn't let her have the control she longed for.

All Archangels had the ability to sense a soul, which was one of the requirements trainees had to learn to do if they wish to become an Archangel sometime in their life. But Toph was different. She wasn't restricted to the physical sight like most Archangels are, she's blind for peep's sake, and her ability ranged further than the others. She could not only sense a soul, but she can feel the emotions and thoughts within them. It helped her determine liars from the truths in the World of the Living, where the earth beneath her feet ignores her calls.

Spirits, did she hate the silence.

So, even though Korra's voice was trapped within herself, Toph could feel the girl's soul seeking her out for stability, searching for the way out of the darkness. Toph wondered if this was how Katara felt like when she brought the Soulless back, like her very being would willingly take their place if it meant they would find peace. She sure as hell hoped not. She could hardly resist the pull, but her willpower had always been stronger than Katara's.

Toph moved her fingertips back over the length of Korra's cheek, allowing a piece of herself to slip into the girl's wandering soul. It'll be her guiding light, and when she has Korra's soul within her hands, she'll launch them both into the Spirit World to have Korra's wounds immediately looked over, because even though you've died in the World of the Living, to the Spirit World you've merely lost the humanity that kept you from knowing the gift you possess. You keep the wounds and memories of it, but Korra will be in a twenty-four regenerative sleep, allowing her wounds to seal themselves close without the teen even feeling it.

Toph despised the regenerative sleep system, which is a medicated sleep rhythm while six healers reconfigure the Soulless or injured warriors. It made her feel confined, separated from those she cared about most. Plus, it takes away the badass scars you would've received if the wounds had been left to heal on their own, and the scars were Toph's favourite part. It made her feel invincible, in power. Sokka was the same way, even though he whines about the pain until the wound heals.

Slipping out of the thoughts of Sokka, Toph moved her fingers away from Korra's skin, trying to determine if she was too late to save the young girl in the World of the Living. Korra's soul was hanging on by a hair's breath to this world, but it was enough to try and coax it back to her. And Toph wasn't going to move away until she was sure there was nothing else she could do in this world.

"Come on, don't make me send my daughter after you in Ozai's Kingdom. I really don't need to be yelled at again." She growled under breath, remembering the last time her daughter had been ordered into Ozai's fiery depths. It was when Katara had first disappeared, consumed by the madness within herself, and the Inner Circle had believed she'd been kidnapped. Her youngest kid came back with a fire in her eyes that Toph saw burning through her soul.

Sarah hadn't been too pleased with her mother, and Toph had been left in the doghouse for months, her connection to Sarah's soul disconnected by the youth herself.

Korra heard the words; heard the rich, warm honey voice caressing her in the dark. She followed the sound of it, like she did when her eyes first opened to the mess her life had become. She was hesitant, afraid of the pain she was walking towards, but she knew the woman was there to take it away from her, could feel it within her being. It made her feet pound against the inky blackness beneath her as she picked up speed, wanting to be back in the light, to see those unseeing eyes looking into her.

_It was always in her eyes..._

"There you are," Toph smirked when she felt the small flutter inside Korra's chest, the rhythm picking itself back up to the beat The General had memorized all those years ago. She didn't see the blue hue of Korra's eyes as she opened them, but she felt her eyelashes brush across her wrist when she moved her hand one last time over Korra's face.

Positive that the teen wasn't going to slip away from her again, Toph distanced herself from Korra, who muffled a groan as she rolled onto to her back to look at the woman in a better perspective, and either Korra was starting to hallucinate from blood loss, or her eyes were truly seeing a green light surround the older woman, wrapping itself around her like a suit of armor, protecting her from the dangers to come. And the teen believed she was seeing what made this creature so perfect, the hardships she encountered through the years, the reason why power and confidence seemed to radiate from her.

Korra opened her mouth, but a pale hand reached over and cupped her cheek, silencing the words that almost slipped past her lips. The pain she awoke to was beginning to wash away as a warmth flooded into her veins, making her eyes droop from the relief of it. She fought to keep her eyes from slipping close, though a part of her knew this sleep promises to keep her safe from the darkness.

"You're lucky I was the one sent to save your ass." Rich, warm honey floated into Korra's ears. She liked the sound of it. "No, that's a lie. I almost squashed Aang if he didn't hand you over to me." And Korra smiled softly as the woman laughed, husky and deep.

This time words slipped past her lips without her knowledge of it. "That sounds like you,_Toph._" She quietly murmured, and a gasp escaping from the woman was the last sound she heard as she fell into the comfort of the dreams that felt like they belonged to her.

* * *

_"Aang,"_

_Aang's lips curved into a warm smile as his gray eyes gazed over in the direction the familiar voice was coming from, meeting eyes that rivaled the beauty of the ocean. "What is it, Katara?" He asked, shifting closer to the waterbender until their shoulders brushed. _

_Katara smiled softly, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight as she laces her fingers into the spaces between Aang's. "I love you." She whispers, resting her head on the airbender's shoulder, content on just being in the moment. Just Aang and Katara. _

_"I love you, too."_

* * *

Confident that Korra was safely tucked away in her dreams, Toph shifted her attention to the man tapping his foot in front of the two of them impatiently. "What?" She barked out, her nerves on a short leash from the stress Korra's near demise put her through. She didn't need a lecturing Councilman Sokka to add to it.

"Do you have any idea what could've happened to you?!" Sokka asked harshly. He knew Toph was reckless, but she wasn't stupid enough to risk her own life for someone she doesn't know. "What were you thinking?!"

Easing her hands under Korra's knees and shoulders, Toph lifted the sleeping girl into her arms bridal style, completely ignoring Sokka's questions. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Aang?" She countered smoothly. She turned on her heels and started making her ways towards the young earthbender on the other side of the highway.

Sokka easily synced his steps with her. His shoulder brushed against her metal clad one, sending sparks of pleasure to race down to his fingertips. Her heat and touch comforted his frayed nerves, for he had been in the shadows, watching as Toph called Korra to her, watching as she almost slipped herself into the madness his sister had fallen into when she pulled that stunt years ago.

And he was well aware his friend knew he'd been watching her. Her senses amaze him every time he watches her easily pick out a person in a crowd, and knew it wouldn't have been wise to try and play the knight in shining white armor for the woman he's known to value her independence and strength. But, spirits, did he want to reveal himself when she ran towards Korra, her intentions clear on her face, and demand that she move away from the teen. He wanted to tell her that Aang can find another vessel, a stronger one, to become the Avatar.

_Aang. _He felt like his brother-in-law in those moments. He didn't even care about the teen at her feet. His attention had been solely on Toph, not wanting her to become the next Katara, while he plays the next Aang. His heart nearly burst out of his chest from the fear that consumed him.

He didn't want to be Aang, didn't want that kind of loss in his eyes.

But Toph's still here. Still the same old smartass.

And she's not _his._

"I'm here to make sure you don't do something stupid, which you did." Sokka easily informed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking over at his friend, who looked as though she was about to throw the teen in her arms up into the air so her fists would be free to pummel his face into the ground.

Toph snorted. "Why didn't you stop me then, Snoozles?" She raised an elegant eyebrow, a smirk curving her lips upward.

Sokka rolled his blue eyes at the nickname she refuses to stop saying, though his mind mulled over why he didn't intervene. The metalbender beside him was the strongest emotionally out of their group, an immovable force that can't be cracked, even as she's consumed by a pain that churns through her like a storm destined to destroy everything in its path. It's what made him believe she could handle being in Korra's presence, since the teen shared Aang's very being inside her.

"Why didn't you stop yourself?" He asked, unable to find a reason why he didn't stop her. No, he did have a reason. But he wasn't going to voice it out loud to his friend.

Toph's smirk quickly disminished from her face. She shifted the teen in her arms slightly, hearing a groan of disapproval escape, before she answered the loaded question she just wanted to ignore. "I just couldn't let her go, Sokka." She let her eyes shift to him, though it made no difference to the blind woman. "I made a promise to Aang that I would protect her, and I would've been breaking that promise if I walked away."

"Aang would have understood-"

"You think I don't know that, Meathead?" Toph cut him off, a frown pulling her lips downwards. "Don't you know me at all?" The words were pleading, as if she didn't want to truly voice herself out loud.

The words struck a chord inside the Councilman. It was unlike Toph to plead, to feel as though her judgement has been questioned. "I know you, Toph, I do." He reassured, unfolding his arms and moving his hand to curl around her bicep, squeezing slightly to comfort her.

Sometimes he really wished she would ditch the metal suit she cherished so much. It was rare to ever see her without it on, much like her daughter, Lin. Though it was professional, the suit did little to hide the curves Toph possessed. And the few times Sokka's eyes were rewarded the sight of seeing her without thr armor, he couldn't help but be memorized by the dips and curves of her body.

She was _beautiful_.

"Snoozles?"

"Mmm?" Sokka hummed distractedly.

Toph's smirk reappeared on her face. "I'm asking you if you know my _personality _not my _figure_." She teased, feeling the desire from Sokka's soul. Most times she keeps her thoughts to herself, but she couldn't resist teasing where the Councilman's thoughts have gone.

Sokka removed his hand from around her arm as if it burned him. "You really gotta stop doing that creepy looking into my emotions thing with your eyes." He muttered, a blush ghosting over his tanned cheeks. He hated how she could clearly see his thoughts and feelings, and yet she does nothing to show him if she feels the same desire for him as he does her. She only teases and jokes.

"'Fraid not,"

"Fine, be that way."

When they came close enough for the young earthbender to hear them, Toph forced the smirk to vanish from her face. She narrowed her eyes into slits as she barked out her orders to the boy. "Stop lily-daddling! We've got places to be, people to see!" She was itching to get back to the Spirit World, where the earth sings to her.

Spirits, does she hate the silence in this world.

Sokka had to hide a smile behind the back of his hand as the boy practically tripped over himself trying to quickly follow The General's orders. He couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping when Toph smiled in satisfaction once she passed the young earthbender. The woman truly amazes him in every way.

Bolin followed several steps behind the Archangels. Toph Beifong was an intimidating woman, even without her status as an Archangel. Bolin thought the whole Inner Circle was an intimidating group, but The General was the one who acted on her emotions, unafraid of putting anyone in there place with violence and snarky remarks. And that included the Avatar himself, which is something Bolin would never dream of attempting.

Speaking of the Avatar, Bolin's curious eyes looked over The General's armor clad shoulder to see the teen destined to be the upcoming Avatar. When the earthbender had been given a photo of his target during the briefing, Bolin had thought Korra Tenshi was too beautiful to be bound to The Order. Her blue eyes held a love within them that Bolin knew would be snatched away the second she has to face her first mission, like all trainees are required to.

"Is she going to be okay?" Bolin hesitantly asked. Usually when The General has completed her task of safely gathering a Soulless after they've separated from their physical form she hands them over to the young earthbender and complains about needing a new job, but today she was quieter than Toph Beifong has ever been and refuses to release the teen in her arms, which gave Bolin the impression that something was wrong.

Toph snorted, already knowing the signs of a crush developing in the young earthbender, which sparked an emotion that Toph refused to acknowledge. She stayed focused on getting the soon to be Avatar in training into the Spirit World. "Sure, she is," The General grumbled. "I wouldn't be carrying her for shits and giggles, now would I?"

"No! Sorry!"

A smirk curled its way on Toph's lips. Something tells her that Korra's presence in the Spirit World is going to bring about some interesting developments.


End file.
